I was trying to find a way to describe my relationship with the works of Louis L’Amour. At one point in my life I believe I owned a copy of everything L’Amour had published. But owning and reading are two very different things.

I have not read everything Louis L’Amour has written. In fact I’ve read very little, given his body work, but I I’ve liked everything I’ve read. It often comes down to the genre as much as anything else. I like western fiction and when I’m in the mood for a western I’m most likely to pick up a L’Amour novel. But I’m not a western fan – constantly reading westerns – but I am a fan of good story-telling, and Louis L’Amour is a good storyteller.

Since Louis L’Amour’s death in 1988, Beau L’Amour, Louis’ son, has been the overseer of the estate. And like almost every writer I’ve ever known, Louis left an awful lot of unfinished manuscripts. Beau has sorted through pile of manuscripts and shares with us.

This is a fascinating look at the process of an established author. We have here sometimes a few chapters of a novel, sometimes the treatment for a screenplay, sometimes a chapter followed by notes on where the story would go or notes with questions about a character and his motivation. And in a t least one instance we have multiple starts to a story.

I don’t know that I have a favorite … how can you have a favorite when it’s a collection of unfinished work? But I think “Trail of Tears: The First Seven Chapters of a Historical Novel” is among the most interesting. Aside from being the most complete work included here, Beau L’Amour notes that this was one of Louis’ attempts to break out of being labelled as a ‘western’ writer. It also includes a breakdown of all the major plot points of the book which ends with the note to himself: “Begin writing tomorrow and do 1,000 words of the beginning. Do them over. Begin with action, poetry, power. Create a character worth reading about.”

Also of great interest is “Samsara: Three Beginnings for an Adventure Novel, and a Treatment” because it gives us a look at how a story changed as L’Amour rewrote it. Though Beau does comment (on a different story included here):

There were so many rewrites that I could see the storytelling begin to deteriorate; even as he got certain aspects of the plot nailed down, he began to take others so much for granted that he glossed over them, probably because he knew them too well by then. Louis did not like rewriting for this exact reason — unless a writer truly enjoys revision (and he did not), too many drafts can suck the life out of a story before it ever gets going.

Reading all the stories that weren’t westerns here, I wondered why neither he nor his publisher never had L’Amour use a pseudonym. Certainly the name L’Amour was bankable, but clearly the man was a talented writer and his adventure novels or historical fiction might have done very well under another name (think Stephen King and his work as Richard Bachman).

All in all, this was a wonderful read and every budding writer should look at this as a textbook on the writing process, and fans of L’Amour will rightfully look at this as the treasures the title suggests.

Looking for a good book? Louis L’Amour’s Lost Treasures Volume 1 is a wonderful collection of unfinished stories and novels by one of the great storytellers of our time.

I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher, through Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review.

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Louis L’Amour’s Lost Treasures: Volume 1: Unfinished Manuscripts, Mysterious Stories, and Lost Notes from One of the World’s Most Popular Novelists

Depth of Winter is the fourteenth book in the Walt Longmire series. I haven’t read all the books in the series yet, though I am working on it. Why? Because they are entertaining. Generally a quick read, with appropriate machismo and suspense. This one fits well alongside the others in the series quite well.

Sheriff Walt Longmire’s daughter, Cady, has been kidnapped by one of the most ruthless drug cartels in Mexico. What they want is Walt, and he’s prepared to give himself to them in order to save Cady. But the U.S. government is in some tricky negotiations with the Mexican government and Walt isn’t authorized to cross the border. In fact, the local lawmen do everything they can to stop him. But Walt Longmire is committed to facing the drug cartel on their own ground as long as it will bring his daughter to safety.

The cartel’s plan has been to bring together some of the most ruthless, despicable men who’ve ever crossed paths with Longmire (and there have been a few) and let them bid on Cady and Walt. Winning bidder gets to do as he pleases (and we see a man auctioned off and then shot point-blank in the head just prior to Cady’s auction).

But Walt is a clever man, with friends and resources wherever he goes, but following him and learning of his resources along the way is a great part of the fun of reading a Longmire book.

What surprised me with this book is his almost superhero-ness. The amount of beatings/shootings he takes and keeps coming at the bad guys is overwhelming. Having only read a few Longmire novels, I was also a little surprised at how often Cady needs Walt’s oversight. This is perhaps unfair since I haven’t read all fourteen novels and possibly I’ve read the two main books that have Cady at the center. But all-in-all, it is a good read. A ‘beach read’ perhaps. It’s not the sort of book that will sit with you long after you’ve read it, but it will be engrossing and heart-racing while you’re in it.

The Longmire books are a nice combination of modern western romance and mystery, featuring one tough sheriff.

Looking for a good book? The fourteenth book in the Walt Longmire series, Depth of Winter, by Craig Johnson, is a powerhouse of action from start to finish, with Walt’s and Cady’s lives on the line.

I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher, through Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review.

Having watched the Longmire series on Netflix, and awaiting the final season, I went back to the original books and found them much more interesting and delightful than the television series (which I enjoy). For my daily commute I’ve been listening to the books on CD. The narration by George Guidall is incredibly spot on and I can’t imagine Walt Longmire in any way other than as sounding like Guidall. If you only listen to one book in the next year, make it one of the Longmire’s as narrated by Guidall.

THE COLD DISH (Longmire #1)

I found this book when I was searching for some ‘modern westerns’ to read. What is nice here is that while it appeals to me as a reader of Westerns, it also appeals to anyone interested in reading a good, solid mystery.

Walt Longmire is the sheriff of Absaroka County in Wyoming. – generally a pretty quite county with the usual petty crimes and drunks needing tending. But when the body of Cody Pritchard is found near the Cheyenne Reservation, Longmire’s quiet county gets a bit edgy. Pritchard was a young man who, along with four other high school boys, were convicted of raping a local Cheyenne girl with a learning disability, but the boys were given a suspended sentence. Longmire’s concern is that Pritchard’s death is in connection with the earlier assault and that the other three boys may also either become targets or even responsible for the murder.

Author Craig Johnson brings to life some wonderful, remarkable characters the greatest, perhaps, being the environment of the West. The setting is ingrained in Walt Longmire, and he understands what the environment is providing for him, which certainly enhances his sheriff/detecting skills. What he doesn’t know, his Cheyenne friend, Henry Standing Bear, does. Henry provides some insight into the mystical side of the Cheyenne beliefs, which comes in to play with some of the clues found around Pritchard.

For those who think they know the story because of the first season of the Longmire television series, think again. You will be surprised.

I enjoyed this mightily and look forward to the next in the series.

Looking for a good book? The Cold Dish by Craig Johnson is a modern mystery set in the American West that hasn’t quite caught up to the rest of the world and is a delightful combination of old and new worlds colliding.

I borrowed this book from my local library.

The Cold Dish

author:Craig Johnson

publisher:Penguin Books

ISBN:0143036424

paperback, 354 pages

DEATH WITHOUT COMPANY (Longmire #2)

Sheriff Walter Longmire gets brought in to a seemingly open-and-shut case when his mentor and former sheriff, Lucian, asks Walt to look into the natural death of a woman, Mari Baroja, in an assisted living facility. When Longmire sees her death as a murder, he begins an investigation that takes him back to the 1950’s and Mari Baroja’s often-troubled life and a long-time affair with Lucian – who may have a few more skeletons in his closet that are at risk of being discovered.

This book takes on a slightly different tone than the first book in the series, with Walt (and the reader) taking a foray into the past and trying to make sense of the present. This book gives Longmire more opportunity to show why he’s a trusted sheriff, developing his detective skills. It also shows even more of a human side of the laid-back sheriff as he makes some tough decisions about how far to push and what to reveal when friends and family are at the center of an investigation.

We also get just the hint of sexual tension as Walt recognizes the attractiveness of his deputy, Victoria Moretti – a tough, smart-ass, foul-mouthed woman from Philadelphia who happens to be about the same age as Walt’s adult daughter.

The mystery that author Craig Johnson gives the reader is a solid, tight web. While I prefer books with great character work over an intricate plot (usually), this book manages to give us both – something much more rare in writing than it should be. If possible, I enjoyed this book even more than the first volume (A Cold Dish).

This is definitely a book – and a series – worth reading for anyone interested in great mysteries, wonderful characters, and a taste of the last, wild location in a modern world.

Looking for a good book? Death Without Company, A Walt Longmire book (#2) by Craig Johnson, is a fantastic mystery and well worth reading.

I borrowed this book from my local library.

Death Without Company

author:Craig Johnson

series:Walt Longmire #2

publisher:Penguin Books

ISBN:0143038389

paperback, 271 pages

KINDNESS GOES UNPUNISHED (Longmire #3)

Smart, tough Wyoming sheriff Walt Longmire is like a fish out of water in Kindness Goes Unpunished. Here Walt Longmire, Sheriff of Absaroka County, Wyoming is in Philadelphia, PA with his long-time friend, Henry Standing Bear. Walt is there to spend some time with his daughter, Philadelphia lawyer, Cady Longmire. Henry is there for a Native American photo exhibition at a museum. Walt will also be spending some time with the mother of his deputy, Victoria Moretti whose family are almost all cops.

Walt has not met Cady’s current boyfriend (another lawyer), and he’s less than impressed when he does meet him. His impression of the young man gets even worse when Cady is assaulted and left for dead after working late one night. With Cady in Intensive Care and unconscious, there’s not much for him to do for her there, so he begins his own investigation into her assault. He works with some of the Moretti boys, who treat Walt as a brother cop. What Walt and the local flatfoots uncover is a political conspiracy that Cady was getting wrapped in, although she might not have been fully aware at the time.

Walt also gets wrapped in a little personal drama of his own as he spends a little extra curricular time with Vic’s mother, and then with Vic as she comes out to help him.

I enjoyed the story because I like the characters of Walt and Henry. However, it was probably my least favorite Longmire story so far because the Wyoming country-side is as much a character as Walt and Henry are.

The personal, sexual encounters with the Moretti women took me by surprise and I’m very curious to see what Johnson will do about this in future volumes.

Looking for a good book? Kindness Goes Unpunished is the third Walt Longmire book by Craig Johnson and takes Longmire out of Wyoming and puts him into the metropolis of Philadelphia. It’s more of a straight-up mystery than a western/mystery that we’ve come to expect from the series.

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Kindness Goes Unpublished

author:Craig Johnson

series:Walt Longmire #3

publisher:Viking Adult

ISBN:0670031577

hardcover, 288 pages

ANOTHER MAN’S MOCCASINS (Longmire #4)

Sheriff Walt Longmire (of Absaroka County, Wyoming) has his past come back to haunt him when a young Vietnamese woman is found dead near the interstate.

Walt’s past, as a Marine in Vietnam, with Henry Running Bear also in the service, is thrust at him and he’s forced to remember and admit to a few things that he’d rather forget. Soon we are not only following the immediate story of Walt trying to prove the innocence of the homeless Native American vet in the Vietnamese woman’s death by finding the real killer, but we are also following the story of a younger (but still mellow) Walt uncovering some dirty business (including murder) during the Vietnam war.

I’m typically not very interested in books with flashbacks being prime motivators for action. I usually find them confusing and too convenient for the author to bring information about the past to the reader. But Johnson works this well and instead of using the flash back as a device to simply pass along information, Johnson is giving us a second mystery and then tying it back to the present day mystery that Walt is trying to solve. It’s clever and it’s done quite well.

Also, when I first learned of the series I wondered how we were going to get a whole lot of mysteries when we were set in such a small, rural location. We’re only four books in to the series and we’ve already seen one story in Pennsylvania and now we have one in Vietnam as well. Johnson has answered my question.

But now that we’ve been away two books in a row (I know … this one does start and end with the death of the Vietnamese woman in the present, but there’s enough that happens here in Walt’s Vietnam past that it feels like we’re not in Absaroka much here) I rather hope we’ll be back on Utah soil again soon.

This is a wonderful series. Craig Johnson’s writing is smooth and descriptive and he draws the reader in. The characters are all real people and we care about what happens to them. What more can you ask for from a book series?

Looking for a good book? Craig Johnson’s Another Man’s Moccasins is the fourth in the Longmire mystery series that shows us some of Walt Longmire’s past while he’s solving a murder case in the present. This series is highly recommended.

It is 1891 and the massacre of Wounded Knee has already occurred and there are many strange, dangerous things going on in the territory. Men have slaughtered another man, wolves have viciously hunted in packs, and there’s an ill wind blowing, creating much fear at the nearby fort and throughout the area. Seeing a connection between all the terrible things happening is doctor Charles Zimmerman. Zimmerman gathers together a handful of unlikely heroes – a orphaned farm girl, a stage-coach robber, an un-lucky Lakota, and a medicine woman. Saving both the town of White Pine AND the Lakota community might be just too much to ask of these poor souls.

Death Wind has an incredibly strong opening that will grab the reader and shake them a bit as if to say “This is not your ordinary western romance fiction novel!” We are plopped down in the middle of some tremendous action and the anticipation is high.

Likewise, the ending comes along strong and fierce and we are caught up in a maelstrom of violent, wicked activity rising to a frenetic climax.

But the middle portion of the book cannot hold this fever, even though it tries.

At its core, this is a horror novel. I’ve written before, and believe it to be true, that horror is extremely difficult to sustain for an entire novel, which is why those who can do it well continue to leap to the top of the best seller lists. Authors Travis Heermann and Jim Pinto don’t quite get there.

In order to maintain a horrific sense throughout the book, actions are repeated. Not the same action and not to the same person, but the same concept is used. ‘Something bad is happening to Person A, but before we get to the climax…” ‘Something bad is happening to Person B, but before we get to the climax…’ ‘Something bad is happening to Person C, but before we get to the climax…’ … you get the picture.

I began to get quite bored with the book, wondering if anything really new was ever going to happen. It did, and it was wonderful, but by then the book had really lost me.

This is a wonderful short story or novelette that was unfortunately expanded to novel length.

Looking for a good book? Death Wind by Travis Heermann and Jim Pinto explores horror in the old west but could have done it better by cutting a third of the book.

I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher, through Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review.

“Damnation,” is a lot like what the Christian church-goers might refer to as “Purgatory” – that place in-between the land of the living and either heaven or hell. But with a twist. Those arriving in Damnation have a past that’s checkered with some foul deed or another and it’s pretty well-assumed that those who move on from Damnation will only go in one direction.

But those arriving in Damnation, which resembles an old west cowpoke town, don’t have to leave. If they can stay ‘alive’ they remain in Damnation. But get killed a second time and it’s out-of-town for the poor soul. Our story is told primarily from the point of view of a man whose stayed out of trouble since arriving and even started his own Damn newspaper, keeping the residents apprised of the comings and goings of all the other residents.

Just in case the purgatory of the afterlife isn’t supernatural enough for the reader, Damnation also has its vampire residents and some werewolves who invade the town from time to time. The vamps and the wolves are just as subjected to being ‘killed’ and moving on to their final destination as the humans.

I was expecting something a little more … cheesy, I think. Something that was more along the lines of spoof or farce, but instead we actually get a good mash-up of two unlikely genres – the western and the paranormal.

There wasn’t anything here too serious, but the story was strong enough to capture my attention and to hold my interest. What Damnation is, or was, was nicely, slowly revealed, though there are still some questions about the place and why people arrive or don’t and where they go afterward. I had fun in Damnation and I’m hoping there will be more stories there to take me back.

Looking for a good book? Dawn in Damnation by Clark Casey is an entertaining read and a nice blend of paranormal/fantasy and old-fashioned western.

I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher, through Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review.

THROWBACK THURSDAY: REVIEWING A REISSUE

If you mention ‘western fiction’ or simply ‘western’ to most people – even generally well-read people – they will likely have one of two first thoughts: it’s the world of Louis L’Amour and Zane Grey and/or it’s the world of cheesy gun-fights and prose so purple you’ll wonder if Crayola has a crayon named for it. In this reprint, Six-Gun In Cheek, author Bill Pronzini takes a look at some of the western fiction that has given the genre this reputation.

Although Pronzini doesn’t come right out and say why there are so many hackneyed western stories with such flowery descriptions, we do get a sense that the volume of stories needed to fill so many pages of pulp magazines meant that the editors of the rags … er, mags … overlooked some of the faults in order to meet deadlines and demand.

Pronzini points out that in some cases there were a few particular authors who tended to more of the purple than others. He identifies them by name (when known) and offers up samples of their work. On occasion Pronzini can only speculate on the author. For instance, Pronzini uses the Black Gold by Jackson Cole as one of the baddest of bad westerns in a range full of bad westerns. But ‘Jackson Cole’ was a company pseudonym used by a variety of authors – most of whom are known, though the specific titles written by the individuals aren’t as clear.

The book is full of examples with passages and paragraphs and even pages of ‘offending’ literature on display. Pronzini offers it all up in appropriate batches and breaks it down by ‘type’ for the different chapters. There is a chapter for “northern” fiction (think ‘western’ but with Mounties instead of sheriffs) and one for sex on the range and one for the identification of heroes and villains in these ‘bad’ westerns, and one for story ideas and plots. Here Pronzini knows what he’s talking about. He describes one story (“The Raid at Three Rapids” by Romer Zane Grey) which happens to feature a subterranean cavern full of shafts and secret passages because an old miner “was queer for secret passages and the like … (he) was always talkin’ about bein’ buried alive, on account of a mining accident when he was a button…. I guess that can change a man some.” Romer Zane Grey? A nom de plume for Pronzini and a writing partner of his.

Overall, the book is a lot of fun. Bill Pronzini had to read a lot of bad western fiction to prepare this book and because of his efforts we get to sample, laugh, roll our eyes, and realize why the genre gets such a bad reputation. I wonder if there’s a “Ray-Gun in Cheek” volume in the works…?

Looking for a good book? Six-Gun in Cheek by Bill Pronzini is a reissue of a fun look at bad writing in the western fiction genre.

I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher, through Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review.

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Six-Gun in Cheek: An Affectionate Guide to the “Worst” in Western Fiction

THROWBACK THURSDAY: REVIEWING A REISSUE

I think I am a member of a dying breed … a reader of ‘western’ fiction. There are very few new westerns being published (believe me, I’ve been looking), though there are a few, the majority of the westerns that I’ve been seeing are reprints of classic works. Ramrod, by Luke Short, is one such reprint.

First published in 1943, Ramrod tells the story of Dave Nash the ranch foreman (a ‘ramrod’) who will do anything for his boss, Walt Shipley, because Shipley took a chance on him and gave him a job when no one else would. But what Dave doesn’t expect to have to face off against is … a woman.

Connie Dickason is a strong, seductive woman and Shipley has his mind set on marrying her. When Shipley is driven out-of-town by a range war, Dave and Connie have to fight together to save the ranch and the ramrod discovers just how strong and determined Connie can be.

This book was made into a movie of the same title, starring Joel McCrea and Veronica Lake.

I’ve only read one other Luke Short novel (which I have already reviewed). That other book, I felt, rambled too much – it didn’t present a very straight-forward story. This book, on the other hand, is pretty clear-cut. The story is set up very well right from the start and it drives forward without much deviation (not a lot of sub-plot here).

Unfortunately, I found it just a little bit dull.

While Dave was a character that I could see, follow, and understand right from the get-go, Connie was a bit of an enigma for me. I didn’t understand her motivations, though I think Luke Short tried to get it across.

This is not what many people expect when they think of a ‘western’ – it’s not a big shoot-’em up. It’s also not really a romance in the sense of ‘boy-meets-girl-tries-to-woo-girl’. This tends to have characters who are a little more ‘real.’ They aren’t obvious good or bad characters … just regular people trying to make a go of their every-day lives.

But ‘real’ people trying to live their everyday lives can be a bit dull if you are reading about them.

Once again I can see some real strengths in Luke Short’s writing and story-telling, but this one just doesn’t strike a powerful chord with me.

Looking for a good book? Luke Short’s western tale, Ramrod, has some very real characters but the story is just a bit on the dull side.

I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher, through Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review.